The green light – at last!

The Conseil d’État, or Council of State, has just approved the building permit for La Samaritaine’s construction site on the Rue de Rivoli, which had previously been challenged by heritage protection organisations and annulled on May 13, 2014 by the Tribunal Administratif, or administrative court. Signalling the end of a long legal soap opera, Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, hailed it as a happy decision, stating that “this brings to a close a dispute that has gone on over two years,” and which would now result in “a major architectural showpiece.”